Father: "Let's go. We have to go now! Time's up"
Son: "No! I want to stay here longer! Please, please, plea-aaseee?"
And so the argument continues...
However, the father could have used a "False Choice" to convince the child to leave without having gone through this argument. This is how the false choice works:
Father: "Son, we only have 5 minutes. Would you like to play on the swings or on the slide?"
Son *considering his options*: "Swings"
Here, while considering the false choice, the son has agreed to the condition that they will be leaving in 5 minutes. Clever, huh? And also quite tricky =)
The false option is likely (although not guaranteed) to work because:
1) the speaker acts on the assumption that the child is ready to leave
2) it gives the other person a sense of choice, which is important because people hate being forced to do something
Here is another example of a false choice:
"Would you like to go to sleep now, or in 5 minutes?
Asking a girl/guy out on a date:
"We should go out sometime. Do you want to have dinner on Thursday or Friday?"
